Brussels, 17/06/2008 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 16 June, EU foreign ministers took stock of the Iranian nuclear issue without mentioning strengthened sanctions against Teheran. And yet the announcement of further sanctions had reached London a little earlier. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown had said during a joint press conference with US President George W. Bush that the EU was going to accept a British request along these lines on Monday. Mr Brown said they would act to ensure that the foreign assets of the country's largest bank, Bank Melli, would be frozen. A lack of patience on the part of America was confirmed by the remarks made by Stephen Hadley, who is homeland security adviser to the White House. He explained that “if the Iranian regime does not change policy and accept the offer that's extended to them, it will be very clear from the EU statement this afternoon that they will place new sanctions on Iran”. This possibility exists, in line with the dual approach followed by the EU towards Iran (negotiation and also implementation of UN Security Council decisions) but “the decision has not been taken today”, said Javier Solana, EU High Representative for CFSP, after the meeting.
Javier Solana had just returned from a visit to Teheran, where he put a recast offer of cooperation from the “Six” (Germany, China, United States, France, United Kingdom and Russia) to the Iranian authorities, on Saturday 14 June. The offer was rejected by a spokesman of the Iranian government before it had even been presented, but could nevertheless be studied by Teheran if, at the same time, an Iranian counter-proposal put forward earlier has also been taken into account. This Iranian proposal would, however, not include suspension of nuclear enrichment, an element that is central to the offer made by the Six (covering economic and commercial cooperation for a nuclear solution for civilian purposes and on regional security). The latter hope in fact that Iran will suspend its controversial enrichment activity, at least “during the time of the negotiations”, Mr Solana pointed out. (A.B./transl.jl)